Davis: 100 Foot Journey won’t outdistance Galaxy Guardians

There are four new movies opening this weekend but the box office winner will be the same as last week.

Guardians of the Galaxy logged a record-breaking August opening and came close to being the biggest opening of the year. With strong word-of-mouth, it has a chance of beating Captain America: The Winter Soldier as the top movie so far this year.

The 100 Foot Journey stars Hellen Mirren as the female head chef of a famous restaurant in France who reluctantly begins mentoring an Indian boy whose family owns a rival establishment, located just 100 feet away.

Director Lasse Hallström, whose impressive resume includes What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, The Cider House Rules, Chocolat, The Shipping News and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, has powerhouse producers Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Ted Talks producer Juliet Black backing him. The industry is looking for this year’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel or The Butler and this could be it.

It has been almost 20 years since Twister was a blockbuster hit, so the filmmakers possibly felt it was time for another tornado movie. While Twister was the story of competing storm chasers trying to be the best at collecting tornado data, Into the Storm uses the “found footage” style of filmmaking, telling the story from the point of view of storm chasers, amateur thrill seekers and the courageous residents of Silverton, a town ravaged by an unprecedented onslaught of tornados.

Step Up: All In is the fifth entry in the dance movie series and is more of the same, this time set in Las Vegas.

While I am sure nobody is going to have anything nice to say about its story and characters, it is the young, talented and attractive dancers and impressive dance moves and set pieces that continually make these movies enjoyable to watch. Heck, it was enough to make me watch the last instalment all the way through.

And the only movie that might come close to Guardians this weekend is the reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. With the blockbuster talent of Michael Bay (Transformers) producing the ability to create the pubescent reptilian warriors with computer imagery, the looks of Megan Fox and the comedic talents of Will Arnett, it will likely be a hit with an all-new generation.

Personally, I will miss the costumed turtles of the ’90s which were created by Jim Henson’s workshop.